Summer Archives

Camille Powers Kodaikanal, India - Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC)

The Heartbeat of India

Camille Powers – Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children

Kodaikanal, India

As I sit and listen, I feel my eyes flood and suddenly I'm seeing the world through a hazy lens of saline water. I blink rapidly to clear my vision. The voice of an 86-year old, practicing ophthalmologist fills my ears with stories of hard work and selflessness and love. This man left his family in India at the age of only seven to go with a German priest to Germany so he would have access to an education that would allow him to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor - something that would not have been possible in his village. Two years later, the priest died and this boy worked as a hotel dishwasher and a newspaper delivery boy to make ends meet and finish up his schooling.

Today, the world knows this man as Dr. Mascarenas – someone who has devoted his life to serving rural, impoverished villages in India, since he was a young doctor, and has never looked back. After becoming a doctor in Germany and working for a few years, he “realized money did not make [him] happy” and “God created [him] to work for the poor people, not to become rich,” saying that his work with impoverished communities that do not have access to doctors is “his wealth.” Dr. Mas spent years walking around by foot then driving around by van, offering free health checkups and medicines to those who felt they needed him. Eventually, it came to the point where people were sitting all over the street surrounding him, waiting to be seen. So, despite the fact that starting a hospital was never his goal, he started a temporary hospital in a rural village before eventually moving and starting a hospital in Kodaikanal. He used to do medical village visits each week, until he lost funding from many of his now-retired colleagues in Germany. Today, in order to fund his hospital, he makes soaps people can use to clean their houses as well as candles & relies on outside donations.

From Dr. Mas, I learned what it looks like to be a doctor truly motivated by raw love and care for humanity. In describing to me how he chose his specialty, he said in a very matter-of-fact manner that there were many people in India who had eye problems, yet seeing a specialist was often very expensive, so he wanted to be the doctor for people who could not afford to pay. His goal has always been healthcare accessibility in its purest form. While he is only one person, he has changed the lives of many, so much so that people from 200-300 kilometers away make the trek to Kodaikanal (around a 6-7 hour car ride, including 2.5 hours up a winding mountain) every Wednesday to see him. Hearing and seeing the love that Dr. Mas has shared throughout his life showed me that healthcare can be accessible to all, when exists a doctor with skillful hands and a huge heart.